‘On Pakistan payroll’: Himanta cites Ripun Bora’s ‘startling confession’ on Gogoi’s wife

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has made explosive allegations following what he describes as a "startling confession" by senior Congress leader Ripun Bora regarding Jorhat MP Gaurav Gogoi's British wife.

According to Sarma's statement on social media, Bora allegedly admitted that Gogoi's wife "was, in fact, on the payroll of the Pakistan Government." The Chief Minister called this revelation "deeply alarming" and said it raised serious national security concerns.

"The continued presence of an individual linked to a hostile foreign state—right within the inner circles of a sitting Member of Parliament—poses a serious and unacceptable threat to the integrity of India's institutions," Sarma tweeted today.

The Chief Minister announced that authorities would record Bora's statement and take further action, emphasising that "national security is non-negotiable."

However, the Congress party on May 25 dismissed these allegations as politically motivated attacks stemming from Sarma's growing insecurity about the 2026 Assembly elections.

The Congress party dismissed the allegations, describing them as politically motivated attacks driven by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s increasing insecurity regarding the 2026 Assembly elections. On Sunday, the Assam unit of the Congress stated that a sense of insecurity was prompting the Chief Minister to target the Jorhat MP over alleged links with Pakistan.

Bora, the same Congress leader whom Sarma had claimed had made a confession, told reporters that the Chief Minister appeared to be growing anxious about the possibility of the Bharatiya Janata Party losing the 2026 Assembly polls if Congress were to project Gaurav Gogoi as its chief ministerial candidate.

Bora remarked that the Chief Minister perceived Gogoi as his main rival, especially in light of the BJP’s failure to prevent Gogoi from winning the Jorhat parliamentary seat in 2024, despite allegedly employing money, muscle power, and state machinery. He further noted that Sarma's concerns seemed to have intensified following Gogoi's appointment as Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha for a second consecutive term, which underscored Gogoi’s rising political stature.

Bora also questioned the scope of the investigation, pointing out that the Special Investigation Team assigned to the case had jurisdiction only within Assam and lacked authority to investigate matters in Pakistan or even within that country’s embassy in India.

He reportedly advised Gogoi not to respond to Sarma’s accusations on social media or through other platforms, asserting that Gogoi was accountable to the investigators, not to the Chief Minister.

Meanwhile, Gogoi had shifted his focus to governance-related issues. Speaking to journalists in Jorhat, he mentioned having written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding illegal coal syndicates operating in Assam and Meghalaya. He alleged that neither the Assam government nor its Meghalaya counterpart had taken substantial action against the illicit coal mining and trade, which he said had resulted in multiple fatalities.